A group of people from Mississippi Market Co-op in St. Paul, MN decided to take the Eat Local America Challenge and this is what happened.

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Duck, Duck... Grey Duck?!?

Over the past month or so, I've come to realize two important things. Firstly, that the children's game called "Duck, Duck, Goose" in all other sectors of the Known Universe is known in Minnesota as "Duck, Duck, Grey Duck". Whatever, freaks. Secondly, it has come to my attention that duck eggs are flippin' awesome.

Beautiful!

My only previous encounter with the mighty duck egg was a couple of years ago, during a very good dinner at a former employer's very good restaurant (Restaurant Tallent, Bloomington IN, for those keeping score at home). It was served atop an elk carpaccio dish, & I remember marveling at its beauty but being too absorbed by other flavors to pay it the individual attention it deserved. Flash forward to the present, & I find I've stumbled into a somewhat steady source of this prince among eggs. Also, due to something of a bumper crop situation, this source has provided them at the excellent price of free.

Shown in comparison to Schultz Organic eggs, to illustrate scale.

Duck eggs are varicolored, ranging from an slightly pink-ish off-white to an intensely mottled charcoal grey. The ones I've come across are considerably larger than what we think of as "large" chicken eggs. They are richly flavorful, & incredibly viscous. Think you've had a problem with "egg cement" on your breakfast plate, before? You could do minor masonry repairs with this stuff...

There is a dark side to these glorious orange yolks, however. Like so many things in life that could also be described as "flippin' awesome", over-consumption can come at a cost. In the case of duck eggs, this comes in the form of an almost dangerous sedative effect. My proof is anecdotal, but it appears to be borne out in conversations with other duck egg enthusiasts. I've had several instances in which I've had a couple of these eggs for breakfast & then felt absolutely compelled- against all reason- to crawl back into bed... For up to four hours at a stretch.

Don't say I didn't warn you.

I have no idea why this is. Perhaps it's just their sheer richness, their decadent, exaggerated egg-ness. Maybe the woman who raises them has hyperactive ducks & slips them heavy-duty anti-psychotics. Beats me. I do know that if I have plans for the day after a breakfast of duck eggs, I can pretty much forget about them.

That said, I doubt I'll turn down another gifting of these marvelous eggs, should it happen to waddle my way. To my mind, this is yet another of innumerable (& fantastic tasting) examples of the sorts of wonderful surprises we find when we scratch the surface of localized, sustainable food sourcing.